The First Annual One Thing I Know Papa Hemingway Memorial Very Short Story Contest

From the pages of Wired Magazine . . . Wired reminds us that Hemingway once wrote a six word story (”For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”), which he also called his best work. To see if it was possible to duplicate this feat today, Wired asked a variety of writers and other personalities to do the same today. Here a few of my favorites from the web-site, which you can visit to view all of the “stories” they received.

Failed SAT. Lost scholarship. Invented rocket.
- William Shatner

Gown removed carelessly. Head, less so.
- Joss Whedon

Longed for him. Got him. Shit.
- Margaret Atwood

With bloody hands, I say good-bye.
- Frank Miller

We kissed. She melted. Mop please!
- James Patrick Kelly

It’s behind you! Hurry before it
- Rockne S. O’Bannon

The baby’s blood type? Human, mostly.
- Orson Scott Card

Care to give this challenging writing skill a try? Enter the first annual One Thing I Know Papa Hemingway Memorial Very Short Story Contest. All you need to do is to submit your work(s) in a comment to this post. The winner (as judged solely by me) will receive their choice of one of five titles from the Franklin Mint’s Signed First Edition Book Library (I have about 20 of them if anyone is interested in buying any). The contest ends on November 15th, so enter early and often. I will post the five books the winner can choose from tomorrow (Monday, October 30th).